Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/481

 especially by the Emperor Caracalla, who, as Herodian states, aimed to imitate Alexander the Great in his costume. It appears probable, nevertheless, that the turning up of the brim was not peculiar to the Macedonians, and it may have depended altogether on accident or fancy; for we find instances of it on painted fictile vases, where there is no reason to suppose that any reference was intended either to Macedonia or Thessaly. Fig. 16. Plate IX. for example, is taken from the head of Bellerophon, on one of Sir William Hamilton's vases ; and the left-hand figure from a fictile vase at Vienna, engraved by Ginzrot. This hat is remarkable for the boss at the top, which we observe also on the Ætolian coins, and in various other examples.

In connection with the above quoted expression of Dio Cassius it may be observed further, that besides the causia two varieties of the petasus seem to be alluded to by several ancient authors, viz. the Thessalian, and the Arcadian or Laconian. How they were distinguished, cannot be ascertained, but the passages which mention them will now be produced, that the reader may judge for himself. The Thessalian variety is mentioned by Dio Cassius, by Theophrastus, as above quoted (p. 427), and by Callimachus in the following fragment, which is preserved in the Scholia on Sophocles, ''Œd. Col.'' 316.

And about his head lay a felt, newly come from Thessaly, as a protection from wet.—Frag. 124. ed. Ernesti.

The frenzied Cynic philosopher Menedemus, among other peculiarities, wore an Arcadian hat, HAVING THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC WOVEN INTO IT ! Ammianus (Brunck, Anal. ii. 384.) represents an orator dedicating "an Arcadian hat" to Mercury, who was the patron of his art, and also a native of Arcadia.

Herodes Atticus wore "the Arcadian hat" at Athens, as a protection from the sun; and the language of Philostratus, in recording the fact, shows that the Athenians of his time com-*